Master of one and today I want to talk About something that has been bothering Me for a while wine scores are Everywhere and they're supposed to help Consumers make more educated decisions They are easy to understand and they Grab the consumer's attention on the Shelf or on websites I Am pro scores in Combination with a meaningful tasting Note but there can also be misleading Like in the case of one of Italy's Leading mind critics Luca Maroney let's Talk about it The modern 100 point wine rating system Was championed by Robert Parker who Introduced it in the 1980s Parker saw Himself as a consumer Advocate who Operated independently you can say what You want about him but I never heard Anyone making credible accusations about Robert Parker being biased when Reviewing wines and his publication the Wine Advocate never accepted money from Producers his system is now used by most Wine Publications and the ones are rated On a scale from 50 to 100 points wines That receive 95 or more points generally Represent the creme de La Creme the best Of what this wine style has to offer Obviously there are differences in taste Between different wine critics and there Are some that consistently score lower Or higher second Sorry there is a general consensus on
What 90 or 100 points actually mean However there's one wine critic that has Hijacked the 100 point scale and has Created his own system Luca Maroney Luca Maroni is an Italian wine writer who has Been working in wine for a long time and He created his own scoring system called The logism of the fruit grade of wine While most critics nowadays base their Score on their overall perception of a One's quality Maroney uses the slightly Weird formula of consistency plus Balance plus Integrity which results in His index of pleasantness consistency Describes the wines weight on the pallet The balance is the balance between Sweetness acidity and tannins and so on And so forth and the Integrity is the One's Purity and fruitiness in each Category a wine can score between 1 and 33 points so one can get up to 99 points And he doesn't want to give a hundred Points because he says that's reserved For perf perfect ones and they don't Exist which is a bit of a silly argument Because in this system the perfect one Actually is the wine with 99 points I Must admit that it took me a while to Understand his system and I'm still not Really sure whether I can score wines Based on this method what I am pretty Sure about is that most consumers don't Know anything about his scoring system And I also believe that his scores don't
Represent reality at all I went through The last 1000 wines that he rated and 33 Percent of them received a score higher Than 95 points and only 28 28 out of 1000 or less than three Percent receive the score below 90 Points and now you might think maybe he Had some amazing wine tastings in the Last few months nope he tastes way more Entry-level wines than most wine critics Would and some of his 99 points scoring Wines uh well okay wines that I wouldn't Mind drinking every now and then but Certainly not the best of the best his Scores are available for free on his Website but I couldn't find any tasting Notes in English what I found was some Additional information for the wines Like this 2022 vacciano Rosato and that Received a score of 99 points and he Recommends drinking this wine as an Operative while eating out for a Romantic dinner for a great event it Could be served at Christmas Easter New Year's Eve it could be a morning one an Afternoon one or a wine bar A wine four Wine Bar maybe I don't Really know he also suggests that you Should drink this dry Jose wine with Appetizers meat desserts fish or main Courses so pretty much everything what Took the crown though was that he Recommended Agave it was a great wine For tea totals even though this wine
Contains alcohol so this is either the Weirdest recommendation I've ever read Or a sick burn against the winery or Against titols I'm not really sure as a Producer you can buy a diploma with the Score for your wine from Luca Mahoney For 50 to 122 Euros the incentive is Obviously quite a lot higher to buy this Diploma if you want receives 99 points As opposed to 70 points supermarkets or retailers Obviously also prefer promoting a wine That received a 99 Point score as Opposed to an 81 point score from Robert Parker and this is how this formerly Fairly unknown wine critic became so Influential consumers often don't Necessarily understand the difference And they might think that this wine that Received such a high score must be a Great bargain even if that's not the Case some retailers also don't mind Showing a Moroni score next to a Parker Suckling or venuscore giving off the Impression that these scores just Represent different opinions but were Given on the same scale I believe that Mahoney scores have become a sales tool For producers and retailers rather than A way of communicating quality to the End consumer and I don't know of any Wine professionals who look at Maroney Scores to find out whether a wine is Good or bad and after looking deeper
Into the information on his website I Certainly won't I think this is Misleading the consumer you guys and That's not just bad for you but really For the reputation of wine scores or the Wine business in general I bought two Wines that was caught 97 and 99 points By Luca Maroney and while I would Normally have to pay more than a hundred US dollars for wines that was caught This High by reputable publication are Paid less than 10 euros for the two Bottles together the score is proudly Displayed on the label and I'm assuming That thousands if not hundreds of Thousands of bottles of these two wines Were in circulation as I bought these Wines at Aldi so let's find out whether These scores are Justified shall we the First one is the fontini rosie made from Merlot apparently And that's the well the super high score With 99 points the good thing is it has One of those glass toppers You know how I like to reuse them Now we'll certainly use this so I bought This for 5 Euros 99 so let's see whether I made An insane bargain it's pretty pale in Color very very light in color which is Not a bad thing at all when it comes to Roses It smells very clean and pristine as Flavor of strawberries and cherries so
It's not bad but very simplistic so There's basically just fruit flavor here Feels like it was fermented at a very Cold temperature to bring out this Estuary kind of intense fruitiness on The pad it's Kind of blanched there's a little bit of Bitterness there the acidity is actually Fairly low and it's not necessarily Refreshing it just kind of rolls over Your tongue it's kind of soft easy Drinking so I'm going to rate this 79 Points I think it's an okay wine it's Average it's well made there are no Floors there but but it just lacks Everything that would bring it up to 99 Points there's actually quite a bitter Aftertaste coming from that Rose it's Kind of burning in my mouth even though The aqua was at 13.5 I mean yeah No Definitely not great next up is the Galadino montepulgiano debruso and that One received 97 points so it's not quite As high scoring as the other one but Still pretty high it is bottled under This very short plastic cork which in my Book isn't necessarily a great sign for Quality and to be honest when a wine Sells for 3 Euros 49 in a Discounter That's definitely also not a good sign For Quality I always wonder how does This work how do you make a wine for 3 Euro 49 including taxes bottle label
Capsule cork profit margin for the Discounter and obviously your 50 Euro PDF certificate from Luca Mahoney so the Wine is pretty light in color which is Not atypical for montrepochano de putzo It smells of like sour cherries and Spices a little bit of pepperiness and Yeah black tea flavors but it feels a Little bit unripe on the pad it's Actually quite light the tannins Appeared quite grippy and a little bit Harsh and the acidity is fairly elevated So this is not very enjoyable but it Doesn't have any major flaws I think It's the kind of average so I'm going to Rate this 72 points not 97.72 Just to make myself clear all right this Was a bit of a dive into this rabbit Hole but I find it important to share This kind of stuff with you so that you Know what you are doing and even though I don't think this is illegal I still Find it wrong so thank you for watching If you like this video then please like It down here subscribe to my channel if You haven't done so already a question Of the day is what are your experiences With Luca Maroney scores are there any Other critics where you kind of go well This is not quite right let me know Down Below in the comments I hope I see you Guys again soon I'm not going to drink This stuff but I'll find something in my Cellar so whatever you guys do stay
Thirsty Thank you [Music]